With manufacturers adding a dizzying number of derivative models to their lineups, classifying the available crop of business jets is becoming harder than ever. In an attempt to make better sense of the groupings, Business Jet Traveler uses cabin volume as the chief attribute defining the cutoff points for each category.

Many individuals and corporations are deciding to keep the jets they have rather than upgrade. Others are taking advantage of a weak market to buy used models at bargain prices. For those in either camp, interior refurbishment offers an economical way to extend the life of an aging cabin.

Despite the recent public flogging of owners of private jets for allegedly engaging in wretched excess, we suspect that cabin completion and refurbishment centers have yet to meet an owner who wants a cabin with Naugahyde seats, paper plates and plastic champagne glasses.

If you crave having worldwide access to e-mail after takeoff, there's really only one choice: Inmarsat's mobile satellite communications services. Well, actually, there are two choices, both from Inmarsat: Swift64 and SwiftBroadband. Swift64 provides download data transmission speeds of 64 kilobits per second (kbps) per channel maximum.

Fewer than a dozen airplane manufacturers account for the vast majority of business jets and turboprops being built today. Here are the key facts about each of those manufacturers, including data on their parent companies, their 2008 business aircraft sales and the models they offer.

For years, the goal of cabin electronics manufacturers has been to offer passengers the same level of communication, connectivity and entertainment that they'd enjoy at home or in the office. That goal has never been closer to reality.

You may have heard that is almost impossible to secure business jet financing these days, but to paraphrase Mark Twain, rumors of its demise are greatly exaggerated. Though the feeding frenzy among aircraft lenders is over, you can still find financing if you know where to look.

On a purchase-satisfaction scale of one to 10, aviation insurance fails to register even a one for most buyers. And no wonder. There's simply nothing sexy about buying a stack of papers that promise to pay for a loss you hope won't occur and which, in fact, is highly unlikely to ever happen.

Pages

Quote/Unquote

“When you get into the larger aircraft it becomes like a hotel, with dozens of staff supporting the plane based in a galley area down below. You have very comprehensive cooking facilities, and on larger aircraft we have looked at theatres, with spiral staircases and a Steinway grand piano. The limitations for what you can put inside a plane are pretty much the limits of physics, and even money cannot always overcome that. Even so, people are still always trying to push [the limits]. ”